Grain-door fastener



` May s, 1923-v f 21,454,240* o. A. KNEELAND GRAIN 'Doon FASTENER A Fired Marcil 7.-1922 /1/ z/ /49 .9 fs@ Patented May 8, 1923.

UNITED STATES 'PATENT -.oF F1cEf,J-

osc'AR A. KNEELAND, or MrivN'nAroLis, MiNNnsoTA, AssIGNoR/oroNE-HALF f;o

' vIcToRfr. NEANDER, or sfr. PAUL, MINNESOTA.,

' GRAiN-noon FASTENER. 'y

Application led March 7, 1922. Serial No. 541,843.

T 0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, OSCAR A. KNEELAND, a citizen of the United States, Iresiding at. Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Grain-Door Fastener', of which the following is a specification.

My invention. relates to door fasteners for grain cars 'and other inclosures the contents ot' which' is allowed to press against the inner side of the door', and the object is to provide an eflicent means for holding the sections of such a door in place in a safe but detachable manner without injury to the parts.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through one side of a grain car and one of its door open.- ings and the outer and inner doors for such opening, the inner door embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is anqenlargement of the` right handend of` Fig. ll with the sliding outside door omitted.

Fig." 3 is'ank inside elevation of the right hand end of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the broken edge and adjacent portion along the line 4 4. of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view of one of the metallic fasteners involved in my invention.

Fig. 6 is a modiied form of Fig. 5, showing also that the device is made in pairs of two members, each of which has its horizontal prong or prongs in the opposite direction to that of the other member.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 7 designates the floor and 8 the double wall of a common box car in which grain is hauled. 9 represents one of several door openings of the car. Such openings are usually provided with an outer sliding door 10, to be sealed, and an inner door composed oil sections 11 put edge to edge upon each other and nailed to vertical strips 14, which are usually of soft wood and permanently secured on the posts 15 of the door frame and the grain or similar goods in bulk illed against lthem when the Car is loaded. To open such inner'door it has heretofore been the practice to use axes Aand sledge hammers from the outside until at least the lower section has been destroyed or rendered unfit for 'further use and all the sections have required costly time and labor to have their nails pulled out sov they can be piled away for future use. i To overcome this trouble and expense I provide metallic anchors orfasteners 16 of' the nature shown kin Figs. -5' and 6, each .formed with a flat elongated body having at its inner end'anvangular'hookl and its outer end formedv with a lateral notchy 18 Aforming a projectionA 19. The edgerofthe body having the notch 18 is provided with one or more lateral prongs 20, preferably slanting toward the notch 18, as best'shown in Fig. 2. The bodyv is also provided with one or more y'upwardly' pointing. sharp. prongs21. ,1 f' The sections 11, 12, 13, are usually' three or four to a door and are eachmade upv of two boards nailed `together as by nails 22l in Fig. 4, but-each section may also be an integral piece of lumber.

My device is applied as follows:

The section 11 is put on the car floor 9y 11 and after being pressed or driven down upon the prongs 21 its upper edge is secured by two other anchors applied inthe same manner as described Jfor section 11. Then all the sections have been thus secured, a slop boardf23 is secured tothe strips 14 by two nails 24 close above the top section of the door, soas to prevent possible upward movement of the anchored sections. Horizontal strips 25 `may also be secured over each joint 26 of the door. In Fig. 3 such a strip 25 'is sho-wn upon the lower but not on the upper joint. Each strip is secured by two or more short nails 27 which are easy to remove with the strip.

The strip is intended as an absolute closure plies a crow bar or similar tool 28 in the manner shown in Fig. 2, prying the anchors awav from the strips 14. He then removes the slop board 23 and can let out the grain b v removing one section at a time from the top down, or if he so prefers may put a crow bar under the lowest section and force all the sections upward and let the gra-in escape from under the lowest section. Such sliding of the sections either upward or endwise being impossible where all the sections are nailed to the` inside of the doorposts or strips 14 fixed thereon, the aforesaid demolishing of the door being a condition which my device will obviate.

l have shown in v device as applied to a `grain car door but it is obvious that it is just as applicable to similar doors used in silos, bins and 'other structures.

What I claim is:

l. The combination with ar structure having a'door opening, of a door closing the opening from inside the structure. said door composed of horizontal sections placed edge to edge one upon another and metallic anchors fastening the lends of the sections together and t-o the door posts, in a detachable manner, each of said anchors consisting of a flat bar adapted to rest across the top edge of one of the sectionsand-having its inward end formed with a downwardlv extending arm, its outward end formed with a. lateral prong adapted to be driven into the part of the structure adjacent the door opening and its upper side provided with a prong adapted to engage in the next higher door section, and. means preventing upward movement of the sections.

2. The structure specified in. claim l, each of said anchors having its outer end formed with a series of lateral prongs adapted, to be driven into the adjacent part of the structure, and its upper side having a series oit vertical prongs arranged to engage in the edge of the next higher section, the outward end of the anchor having also a lateral notch forming a clearance for a tool by which to disengage the anchor, and detachable means preventing upward movement of the section-s.

3. The structure specified in 'claim l, said downwardly extending arm having a tooth engaging in the inner side of the section.

4. The structure specified in claim l, said lateral prong being inclined toward the outer end of the anchor. l

5. The structure specified in claim l, and strips covering the joint between each two sections and detachably secured to the inner side of the section above each joint.

6. The structure specified in claim 2, each of said lateral prongs leaning toward the outer end'ot the anchor. and the downward arm at the inner end of the anchor having its end sharpened and bent toward the section so as to engage in the saine.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

OSCAR A. KNEELAND. 

